


Give and Take

by elirwen



Series: Kinkalot 2020 [9]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: All Magic Comes With a Price, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Porn, Arthur Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Court Sorcerer Merlin (Merlin), Established Relationship, Exhaustion, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:33:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26310112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elirwen/pseuds/elirwen
Summary: No magic comes without a cost.Merlin knows. He knows he might be unable to pay this time.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Merlin/Will (Merlin), Merlin/Will is past and minor
Series: Kinkalot 2020 [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1878322
Comments: 16
Kudos: 135
Collections: Kinkalot 2020





	Give and Take

**Author's Note:**

> Written for week 4 of Kinkalot 2020, theme: hunger/thirst.

No magic comes without a cost.

Merlin knows. He knows he might be unable to pay this time.

***

_Small acts of magic take nothing at all. A little bit of happy energy sucked away. A bit more tiredness at the end of the day. Not even noticeable._

_Frolicking through his childhood, tiny spells to make his mother happy, to make Will laugh, he feels no burden, no debt weighing him down._

***

If only he had a choice. If only so much wasn’t at stake.

He lets the magic flow.

***

_He’s no longer a child. His body grows, changes. His mind grows restless. He feels trapped. He yearns to break the rules._

_He sneaks into the night, stretches his powers under the canopy of stars._

_Giddy with excitement, his limbs tingling with remnants of magical discharge, he lets his body’s needs take over. He moans his pleasure into the quiet night, spent in more ways than one._

***

The creatures fall, disintegrate. Merlin pushes further, primal cry tearing from his throat. He feels them, thirty of them in a circle. He feels the tendrils of magic pouring power into the conjured living nightmares. 

One by one he snips them off. One by one the sorcerers’ consciousness fades away.

***

_Nearly 16 years have passed since his birth before he realizes the connection._

_Sending a wild surge of magic to save Will from harm, the sudden pressure of demand weighs him down. ‘Give back,’ almost as if he could hear the land say._

_He leans over Will. Shocked and coming to terms with his near brush with death, Will stares up at him, breathing hard._

_He lets Will tumble him into the dew soaked grass, kiss him breathless. He presses back when Will bears down, their cocks rubbing against each other, separated by layers of fabric._

_He feels his pleasure soak into the earth below. He feels the land reaching past him, accepting Will’s gift as his own._

***

He snaps back into his body, wavers on his feet. Too much. He took too much. He won’t be able to pay.

He staggers back, massive weight settling on his shoulders. His knees buckle. He falls.

He doesn’t hit the ground. Strong arms wrap around his middle. 

He’s lifted, carried, settled on a soft blanket.

He looks up into the face of his constant, his other half, his golden king. His lips are moving but Merlin can’t hear, ‘give back’ reverberating through his skull.

***

_Years of secrets spilled between them, Merlin fears the chasm will be too vast, tearing him away from his destiny._

_He was wrong._

_The last barrier standing between them falls._

_“Thank you,” Arthur whispers, holding Merlin close, keeping him together, taking him apart._

_The land takes what it needs._

***

He can’t breathe, the debt sitting on his chest. 

He doesn’t feel enough. He feels too much.

One moment he shivers, next he feels heat wash over him.

He’s scared.

He mouths Arthur’s name, needing him close. He doesn’t want to die alone. 

Gentle fingers caress his cheeks, Arthur leaning down, ghosting a kiss over his chapped lips. 

“Let me help,” he says, the land’s loud demands quieting to let his words through this time. “Let me carry part of the weight.”

‘I don’t know how,’ Merlin wants to say, but he can feel the land reaching towards Arthur, lifting part of the weight off his chest.

‘Provide,’ it speaks in their minds. ‘Give back.’

Arthur’s lips are soft on his, his fingers skillfully working through the ties of Merlin’s clothes. He knows where to touch, how to bring Merlin the most intimate pleasure. Merlin shudders through his climax, completely at the mercy of Arthur’s touch and Albion’s need, Arthur’s harsh breathing as he grinds against Merlin’s hips deepening the experience. 

‘More,’ the land pushes on, feasting on Merlin’s bliss.

Arthur provides, tumbles over the edge, sobbing through the sensation as the land takes and takes and takes.

The weight lifts, the debt paid.

It’s time to rest, curled together, the two sides of the same coin, the providers, the protectors of Albion.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and/or kudos are ♥.
> 
> [My tumblr.](http://elirwen.tumblr.com)


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